Niue

We found Monica in Auckland, where she was staying with her grandmother for part of the summer holidays. This is mid-way between Monica's two homes: about 1000km from her current one in Dunedin, and several times that distance from the home she grew up in, on Niue island in the Pacific. At 19, Monica is now studying biomedical science at the University of Otago with her sister, Leigh. After graduating next year, she plans to apply for a graduate program in medicine. Yet moving to a larger South Pacific island has not changed Monica's dedication to her home country -- as soon as she becomes a doctor, Monica plans to return to Niue.

You can reach Monica at phat_niuitupu@hotmail.com.

Niue

Before we even arrived, Ina wrote to tell us that she was looking forward to having us come to Niue, and understand why she is so passionate about where she lives. After only a couple of hours on "the Rock" (as locals call it), we did indeed understand, and we also began to see how intricately Ina's life is intertwined with her small South Pacific island. In fact, Ina is currently a news journalist -- THE news journalist -- for the country of Niue. Ina claims that the Junior Summit led her to become interested in the power of the media, but watching her greet absolutely everybody on her entire island by name led us to believe that reporting on people's lives was a natural career choice for her! By the end of the week, we realized that Ina knows all the gossip on the island as well -- but it's not clear if that's because Ina's a journalist, or because, having so many different interests, and having her hand in so many different pots, she gets all the news first-hand! Ina is currently taking courses by satellite from the University of the South Pacific, but may actually leave the island to continue her studies in journalism.

You can reach Ina at ina_tweety@yahoo.co.nz, see more pictures of her here, and more pictures of lovely Niue here.